Privacy policy

Last updated 27 October 2026

Your family's memories are precious, so here's how we look after them: what Wax Chapters keeps, why, who can see it and what you can do about it. We keep only what the app needs to work. There are no ads, no analytics and no tracking, and this website sets no cookies.

The short version

• Nothing is public. Only the family you invite sees your moments.
• Sealed letters and messages stay closed until their capsule opens, and their words are kept encrypted.
• We never sell your information, show ads or use your memories to train AI.
• You can ask for a copy of your information, and delete what you've added or your whole account, at any time.

Who we are

Wax Chapters is run by [LEGAL_NAME], [LEGAL_ADDRESS]. We are responsible for your information (the “controller” under data protection law). Write to us at [CONTACT_EMAIL] about anything in this policy.

This policy covers the Wax Chapters Android app, this website and the guest pages that party mode links to.

What we collect

• Your account. When you sign in with Google, Google tells us your name, email address, profile picture and Google account number. We never see your Google password.
• Your family. The family's name and time zone, who is in it and their role (parent or family), and each child's first name and date of birth.
• What you add. Quotes, letters, notes, voice recordings, photos and videos, with their date, any note about what was happening, the child they're about and who added them. Also the occasions you plan, the capsules you make with their opening rules, and the profile photos you pick for yourself and your children.
• Guest messages. A guest at a party gives a name and leaves a voice message, video, letter or photos. Guests don't create an account and we don't ask for their email.
• Suggestions you send. What you write in the app's Suggestions, and a screenshot if you add one. With a problem report the app adds its version and your phone's model and Android version. We read these to improve the app and may write back to your email.
• A little technical information. We keep short logs of what the app asks for (the time, which page or action, and whether it worked) so we can keep Wax Chapters running and fix problems. Invite and guest links are left out of them. Your internet (IP) address is checked for a moment to stop anyone flooding the service, and is never saved.

On your phone, the app keeps you signed in using Android's encrypted storage. It uses the microphone and camera only while you record. A guest's browser asks before it uses the microphone or camera, and only while recording.

How we use it

• To run Wax Chapters: show your family's moments to your family, keep sealed things sealed and open capsules on their day.
• To keep it safe: stop misuse, protect accounts and fix problems.
• To reply when you write to us.

We use your information because it's needed to provide the service you asked for, and for our legitimate interest in keeping it secure. Parents add their children's information to keep the family's memories, and we use it only for that. We don't sell your information, use it for advertising or use your content to train AI models.

Who can see what

• Nothing is public. Moments are visible only to the people in your family circle: the parents and the family members a parent invited.
• Something sealed in a capsule shows only as an envelope (who added it and when) until a parent opens the capsule on its day. The person who added it can read it for 24 hours, unless the capsule is sealed from them too.
• Guests can only add to the one capsule their link is for. They can never read anything.
• Anyone holding an invite or guest link can use it, so share links only with the people they're for. Invites work once; guest links expire.

How we keep it safe

• Everything you send travels over a secure, encrypted connection (HTTPS).
• While something is sealed, its words are encrypted (scrambled with a secret key) everywhere we keep them, backups included. Someone who got hold of a copy of our records still couldn't read them.
• Photos, voice recordings and videos are kept privately with Cloudflare. They can only be opened through a link that lasts a short time, and we only make one for someone allowed to see them.

We keep sealed things closed ourselves, and we hold the key. This is not end-to-end encryption: the people who run Wax Chapters could technically open sealed content. We don't look at your content, except when you ask us to help with a problem or the law requires it.

Who helps us run it

We use a few service providers, who handle your information only on our instructions:

• Our hosting provider, [HOSTING_PROVIDER], runs the computers Wax Chapters lives on and keeps its records.
• Cloudflare keeps photos, voice recordings and videos, and our nightly backups, encrypted on its side.
• Google provides sign-in, delivers notifications to your phone (Firebase Cloud Messaging), and Google Play takes payment for Premium. A notification says who added something and for which child or occasion, never what was sealed. We get the subscription's status from Google, never your card details.

Where a provider handles information outside your country, we rely on the safeguards the law requires, such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.

How long we keep it

• We keep your family's content for as long as the family uses Wax Chapters; keeping memories for years is the point.
• When you delete something, it's gone from the app straight away, and from our file storage and backups within 30 days.
• When you delete your account in the app, it's deleted straight away, along with what you added (if you ask by email, within 30 days). If you're the family's last parent, the family and its children's information go too. Backups age out within a further 30 days.
• If we ever close the service, we'll give at least 90 days' notice, a way to download everything, and open any sealed capsules early so nothing is lost.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, to delete it, to restrict or object to how we use it, or to receive it in a form you can take elsewhere. Write to [CONTACT_EMAIL] and we'll answer within a month. You can also complain to [PRIVACY_AUTHORITY].

A guest who wants their message removed can write to us with their name and the occasion. Families can remove a guest's message too, once their capsule is open.

Children

Wax Chapters is for parents and family. You need to be an adult to create an account. Children don't have accounts; their parents add their information and stay in charge of it. Guests under 16 should leave a message with a parent's OK.

Changes

We'll post any change here and update the date below. If a change is important, we'll also tell you in the app before it applies.